The latest marketing trend is the use of messenger chat bots. More specifically, Facebook Messenger chat bots.
In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed one of my business mentors using them to help with her marketing. One of my FinTech consulting clients also started using messenger chat bots to help their customers with the onboarding process.
Large companies are considering using Facebook Messenger bots as well. A couple of months ago I was speaking at a conference for credit card issuers and we broached the subject. Companies wanted to know how to use this tool because they knew it could lead to more money in their pockets.
Should you use chat bots?
The jury is still out in terms of whether or not chat bots are here to stay. On the one hand, many marketers are using them with great success. On the other hand, some fear messenger bots are an invasion of privacy and feel uneasy about using them to retrieve sensitive information.
Where you fall on this spectrum will determine how you decide to use chat bots in your business. Some businesses use Facebook Messenger chat bots purely for marketing tool while others use chat bots for payments. With that being said, here are three ways to use chat bots in your business to help you get paid.
Customer Service
If you want to get paid as a business (and continue to get paid) you need responsive customer service. We’re already accustomed to using chat bots in the form of phone trees whenever we call a company’s 800 number, so it’s not a huge stretch to use Facebook messenger chat bots for this as well.
For example, a customer may message your Facebook business page with a concern or inquiry. You can mimic a conversation with chat bots based on commonly asked questions or concerns. If that chat bot doesn’t meet the needs of the inquiry, you can also give a “Talk to a human option” (kind of like pressing “0” on a phone tree).
Nurturing via Marketing
Another way to use Messenger chat bots is for marketing. We already send email marketing out to people’s inboxes, so why not send them via messenger as well? For instance, one of my colleagues sends out a series of blog posts via Facebook Messenger while my mentor uses chat bots to alert people of her Facebook Lives.
The good news is chat bot autoresponders are very similar to that of email. Additionally, people can opt-in by typing a specific word into the messenger system so it’s easy to build a list.
Collecting Payments
Facebook users in the U.S. have had the option to use it’s P2P payment feature since 2015. In early 2017, they announced they were taking it global.
From a numbers perspective, this is genius. After all, there’s a pretty high chance your customers have a Facebook account and already spend a lot of time there.
Similar to the phone tree example, this also wouldn’t be a huge stretch from something marketers already do. Using a Facebook messenger chat bot to collect payments would be similar to selling products via email. The only difference is you’re appearing in their messenger inbox instead of their email inbox.
Final Thoughts
While we don’t yet know how long Facebook messenger bots are going to be around, it may be a good idea to look into them. Many businesses are already using them with great success so strike while the iron is hot.
